Adnams: Spindrift

First off: what a marvelous bottle. You don’t get many blue glass beer bottles, I still haven’t thrown mine out. it’s on the kitchen windowsill, where the light streams through it and makes it look all pretty.

But a good bottle does not (necessarily) a good beer make…

Opening up (still can’t take my eyes off that blue glass…it’s the colour of a deep sea creature’s eye) and the aroma that comes forth isn’t exactly awe-inspiring; but, it’s nice enough and seems to owe more to a lager than an ale. What aroma there is is piney, coniferish and maybe a little malt and honey.

Taste-wise it takes me straight back to french school trips and the St. Omer and Alsace beers that we seemed to be always drinking as teenagers and young men. But hey, it’s from the east coast and can’t be that far from France, can it? Maybe it’s the terroir or something? Anyway it’s refreshing and thirst-quenching – which is probably exactly what Adnams are aiming at (the bottle design kind-of gives it away, too) the malt is tasty but any hop character although indistinct, is definitely there. The mouth-feel is solid, and the aftertaste is that of a quality lager.

If pressed, I’d hazard a guess that this recipe is pretty much based upon a lager recipe, but brewed at higher temperatures, faster and with an ale yeast. Saying that, though, I have been wrong before, and will certainly be again…

I think a few of these on ice would be just the ticket on a high summer’s day. They might even travel nicely to the beach.

I got mine from Saino’s* on a two for three quid fiddle.

(*Sainsbury’s again… They still haven’t banned me or anything, you know…maybe it’s all this free advertising. Hey Sainsbury’s feel free to send me some bottles, I’ll drink them and if they’re any good, I’ll tell folks to buy them! If not, I’ll pan them. Yeah baby, who do you work for, eh? *silence*)